Chelsea's Jose Mourinho promises no more bickering with old foe Arsene Wenger of Arsenal

"I respect him a lot and I will show my respect always" PLUS: The Special One on Drogba's return, Mata's role and more

Food for thought: Mourinho claims he and Wenger are mates after breaking bread (Photo: Action Images)

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Jose Mourinho has revealed how he ended his feud with Arsene Wenger over a dinner date.

And Chelsea boss Mourinho promised there will not be “one single problem” between him and Arsenal manager Wenger this ­season.

Mourinho and Wenger were sworn enemies, and the Frenchman is the last remaining rival from the 50-year-old’s first spell in charge at the Stamford Bridge club .

The duo wagered a long war of words and the 2007 League Cup final between Chelsea and ­Arsenal was nicknamed the ‘Snarling Cup’ after three players were sent off and both managers raced on to the pitch.

But Mourinho insists things will be different this time after he kissed and made up with Wenger.

“Arsene Wenger is a nice guy,” said the Special One . “I had a chance to meet him much, much better when I left England. I started meeting him in UEFA, at the Euros and the World Cup. We had dinner and so on.

“We went out with other coaches, in UEFA, in Europe, so it was in a good, nice atmosphere and I ­enjoyed speaking with him about football. He is a ­person with a big culture, very open to give his opinion on things.

“When you are not in the same league, when you are not playing against each other, it is easier to go deeper. It is easy to speak about football, he’s a very nice guy.

“Now we are in the same league again, but he’s still a nice guy. I respect him a lot and I’ll show my respect always. I wouldn’t bet for one single problem between us.

“Even if you are friends and ­respect each other, sometimes you say something the other doesn’t like and you react. But I respect him a lot and I have the feeling that he is the same in relation to me.”

Mourinho has previously taken swipes at Wenger’s eight-year ­trophyless run at Arsenal.

The Portuguese still admits he cannot imagine going so long without silverware, but claims he is impressed by Wenger’s ­longevity and that the 63-year-old’s previous achievements should not be ­forgotten.

“He has to teach me how to ­manage one club for so long because I want to be here (at Chelsea) for 17 years,” said Mourinho. “Our last conversation was that I want to be here 17 years.”

Asked if he could go eight years without a trophy, Mourinho added: “No, because of my mentality. I would feel strange.

“But you can do very good work for a club without winning lots of trophies. You can.

“People are emotional and ­memories in football are ­normally short. People many times forget what people have done. Arsene Wenger is a big, experienced man, he has self-esteem, he knows what he did, he knows what he is doing.

“To have the respect like he has from his board is fundamental and it’s not because of his nice face, it’s because of the work he does and also because of the ­respect people have.

“As you know, he had all these chances to leave, all these good, important clubs interested in him. So when he refuses and he wants to stay at Arsenal, it’s because he loves it there. It’s because he has expectations for the future.”

"One day, Drogba will have a Chelsea future"

Didier Drogba has a “Chelsea future” according to Jose Mourinho.

We revealed two weeks ago that Mourinho wants to work with Drogba again at Stamford Bridge.

Drogba has 12 months ­remaining on his Galatasaray contract and Mourinho has left the door open for him to return to ­Chelsea.

(Photo: Getty)

“Is Didier a very important player in Chelsea’s history? Yes,” said Mourinho. “Will Didier always be in the ­memory of the Chelsea fans, Chelsea board, Chelsea ­owner, Chelsea players and Chelsea kids growing up? Yes.

“Is it normal that Didier will be in the future connected with Chelsea again? I think yes. How? I don’t know. That’s a global question for the club. I am ­nobody, I am just the manager. I think one day Didier will have a Chelsea future.”

"Great players must give me more than the others"

Juan Mata and Chelsea’s stars have been warned life will be made tough by Jose Mourinho.

But Mourinho has ­reassured Mata that he is part of the manager’s Stamford Bridge plans.

Mata was ­Chelsea’s Player of the Year last season, but his future has been the ­subject of debate since Mourinho’s return.

Chelsea are set to offer 25-year-old Mata a new contract, even though Mourinho is demanding more from the Spanish playmaker and team-mate Eden Hazard.

“I am not the kind of guy that makes life easy for the great players,” said Mourinho. “If they are great, they have to give more than the others. These kinds of players are the last that I praise.

“Don’t get it wrong, I prefer the top players. And I prefer the top players who win matches for you, who make the difference when things are close.

“For me to praise an ordinary player is easy. But, for me, to praise a top player is not easy.

(Photo: Alex Livesey)

“Mata won the fans’ and the colleagues’ Player of the Year so that means a lot. People love him, but also the fellow players love the work he did for the team.

“Of course, he fits into my plans. I know him quite well. I have my idea about him, where and how he produces better, and where he has more difficulty.

“But we are here to try to keep him performing when he’s performing and try to help him to perform better in the situations where he finds it more difficult.

“Hazard has a lot of ­talent, as everybody knows. But he has to give the next moment. Go from a great talent to great numbers. Football is about numbers.

“I am ready to help him, to work with him and I’m doing that. He must be ready too.”

Prem owners owe Abramovich claims Mourinho

Jose Mourinho claims the foreign legion of Premier League owners are in debt to Roman Abramovich.

But Mourinho has raised ­question marks over the intentions of some owners, despite insisting Abramovich has proved his critics wrong.

Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and transformed the club into Premier League and Champions League winners.

Manager Mourinho is now ­working under Abramovich for the ­second time and believes the past decade has shown the Russian’s passion for Chelsea and football.

“I remember when Roman bought Chelsea, there was always the question ‘when is he going to sell it?’” said Mourinho. “‘Is he in love with the club? Is he in love with football? Is he doing this for the right reasons?’

“Now, he’s proved it and the value of Chelsea in this market is huge. I’m 100 per cent sure that even with a big offer, Roman doesn’t sell. He’s proving year after year the objective.

“Some other clubs and some other owners, I’m not sure. I don’t know them, their feelings, where they want to go, when they want to stop. Maybe why they are ­interested is my question mark.

“Roman made life easy for the new owners. Because he did it in the right way, he’s giving space for the new people to be seen as a good thing.

“When somebody comes and buys a club and they start investing, some are not doing it the right way. But Roman gave them, by being one of the pioneers, space to make mistakes. He gave them space to be well received and start work.

“In our first time it was hard ­because Roman was the man on the spot. After that my profile added to it. We were not loved and people were not giving us the credit we deserved at the time. We deserved completely that credit.”

(Photo: Getty)

Mourinho uses Chelsea’s ­Cobham training base as an example of how Abramovich quickly disproved fears he entered football for a quick thrill.

“When we started building ­Cobham, Peter Kenyon and I were worried about giving just the right conditions and to have a good base,” said Mourinho.

“Roman was always going for more, always going for the future. He was asking ‘if we can build here 15 pitches, why build only four?’

“We told him that at that time we needed two pitches for the first team, one for the reserves and one for the youth. But he wanted 14 or 15 for the future, for the kids. He wanted everybody at Cobham, not training at Brentford or ­somewhere.

“Roman is always adding ideas and pushing because he sees a ­future. Everybody was saying ‘win the Champions League or win the Premier League and he will go’.

“He won the Premier League and the Champions League, and his mentality is exactly the same. He is fantastic, he is fantastic for the club.

“Who knows, without him what could be Chelsea now if he didn’t buy the club in 2003. What could be Chelsea?

“I remember something Sir Alex Ferguson said publicly after ­Manchester United won the ­Premier League in 2007.

“Ferguson was saying ‘the ­responsibility of Manchester ­United to be so strong this season was Chelsea. Because in the last two years they killed us, in the last two years we understood what we were doing was not enough’.

“So in that season, they bought, they spent and they brought ­Manchester United to that level of competition. So it’s good, it’s good.”